LONDON, ENGLAND. - The selection of paintings
and watercolours in Sotheby’s sale of Important British Pictures on Thursday,
July 1, 2004 is one of the best to have come to the market in recent years. In
addition to some of the finest works by Sir Joshua Reynolds, J.M.W. Turner, and
John Everett Millais ever to have been presented at auction, the sale also
includes some exceptional conversation pieces from the collection of Mr and Mrs
John Hay Whitney, as well as works by celebrated names such as Constable,
Palmer, Rossetti and many others.

Exceptional works by Reynolds, Turner
and Millais - Painted in 1782, at the height of Reynolds’ career, Portrait of
Mrs Baldwin brings together all the qualities that define Reynolds’ oeuvre. A
dazzling demonstration of his painterly skills, the picture is also testament to
Reynolds’ remarkable ability to infuse his portraits with enormous imaginative
appeal. Portrait of Mrs Baldwin depicts one of the most glamorous,
widely-esteemed women of her day in extravagant Eastern costume. It is estimated
at £3,000,000-£4,000,000.

In the hierarchy of works by Joseph Mallord
William Turner (1775-1851), Fort Vimieux ranks equally high. Estimated at
£2,000,000-£3,000,000, this magnificent picture is widely considered to be among
the finest oil paintings by Turner still in private hands. With its highly
dramatic atmosphere, its vivid colours and masterly handling of light, the
picture brings to mind such masterpieces as the Fighting Temeraire, now hanging
in the National Gallery in London. Indeed, both works were keenly contested by
the most ardent collectors of the day, and in fact Fort Vimeux was eventually
acquired by the celebrated collector James Lenox, the first American owner of
any works by Turner, and the man who had unsuccessfully tried to persuade the
artist to sell him the Fighting Temeraire for any price which he might name.

The painting depicts an incident off the French coast at Vimereux (now
called Wimereux) in 1805. It was a small, but nonetheless heroic, incident in
which a frigate stranded on the French coast came under heavy fire both from a
detachment of enemy soldiers and from a nearby fort. Flying the white ensign,
and returning fire bravely, the English ship survived, and escaped. When Turner
painted Fort Vimieux in the early 1830s, the end of a glorious era in British
Naval history was already in sight. But here, for the last time in his artistic
career, Turner allows himself one final heroic reflection on a navy at its
finest hour.

Turner was, of course, as accomplished in the use of
watercolour as he was in oils, and his virtuoso handling of the former is
clearly evident in another work in the sale - Flint Castle, North Wales. Painted
in the early 1830s, at around the same time as Fort Vimieux, Turner’s view of
Flint Castle belongs to a group of watercolours which were made in preparation
for a published work (Picturesque Views in England and Wales), and which are
today regarded as some of Turner’s most important works on paper. Estimated at
£250,000-£400,000, Flint Castle is a serene and technically astounding
watercolour that fully demonstrates Turner’s innovative and experimental use of
the medium: in certain areas, he has scratched away some of the colours to
reveal the white paper beneath; elsewhere he has used a sponge or a cloth to
draw out the colour from the paper and create the sun and its reflection off the
water; and in other parts of the drawing he has worked in minute detail, using
intense hatching and stippling to create a heightened sense of naturalism. All
of this, however, is overwhelmed by the main feature of the watercolour - the
reds, yellows and blues in the vast dome-like sky capturing the first moments of
dawn.

The sale also includes one of Sir John Everett Millais’ (1829-96)
best loved and most well-known paintings. An iconic image of Victorian
childhood, Cherry Ripe contributed greatly in establishing Millais as the most
successful painter of his generation. It was first exhibited in 1881 and was
instantly popular but, apart from a brief appearance in a Royal Academy
exhibition in 1958, it has been out of sight for several decades. It is
estimated at £800,000-1,200,000.